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Pars maior Gothorum cognomine Theruingorum finibus suis expulsa, permissu Valentis a Romanis transportatur in Thraciam, obsequium et auxilia pollicita. Greuthungi quoque, pars altera Gothorum, furtim ratibus Histrum transeunt.

[1] Itaque duce Alavivo¹ ripas occupavere Danubii, missisque oratoribus ad Valentem, suscipi se humili prece poscebant, et quiete victuros se pollicentes, et daturos (si res flagitasset) auxilia.

[2] Dum aguntur haec in externis, novos maioresque solitis casus versare gentes arctoas, rumores terribiles diffuderunt: per omne quicquid ad Pontum a Marcomannis praetenditur et² Quadis, multitudinem barbaram abditarum nationum, vi subita sedibus pulsam, circa flumen Histrum, vagari cum caritatibus suis disseminantes.

[3] Quae res aspernanter a nostris inter initia ipsa accepta est, hanc ob causam, quod illis tractibus non nisi peracta aut sopita audiri procul agentibus consueverant bella.

[4] Verum pubescente³ fide gestorum, cui robur adventus gentilium addiderat legatorum, precibus et obtestatione petentium, citra flumen suscipi plebem extorrem: negotium laetitiae fuit potius quam timori, eruditis adulatoribus in maius fortunam principis extollentibus, quae⁴ ex ultimis terris tot tirocinia trahens, ei nec opinanti offerret, ut collatis in unum suis et alienigenis viribus, invictum haberet exercitum, et pro militari supplemento, quod provinciatim annuum pendebatur, thesauris accederet auri cumulus magnus.

[5] Hacque spe mittuntur diversi, qui cum vehiculis plebem transferant truculentam. Et navabatur opera diligens, nequi Romanam rem eversurus relinqueretur, vel quassatus morbo letali. Proinde permissu imperatoris transeundi Danubium copiam, colendique adepti Thraciae partes, transfretabantur in dies et noctes, navibus ratibusque et cavatis arborum alveis agminatim impositi, atque per amnem longe omnium difficillimum, imbriumque crebritate tunc auctum, ob densitatem nimiam contra ictus aquarum nitentes quidam, et natare conati, hausti sunt plures.

[6] Ita turbido instantium studio orbis Romani pernicies ducebatur.⁵ Illud sane neque obscurum est neque incertum, infaustos transvehendi barbaram plebem ministros, numerum eius comprehendere calculo saepe temptantes, conquievisse frustratos frustrates, ut eminentissimus memorat vates,

Quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem

Discere, quam multae zephyro truduntur⁶ harenae.

[7] Resipiscant tandem memoriae veteres, Medicas acies ductantes ad Graeciam: quae dum⁷ Hellespontiacos⁸ pontes,⁹ et discidio quodam fabrili, mare sub imo Athonis¹⁰ pede quaesitum exponunt et turmatim apud Doriscum exercitus recensitos recensetos, concordante omni posteritate, ut fabulosae sunt lectae.

[8] Nam postquam innumerae gentium multitudines, per provincias circumfusae, pandentesque se in spatia ampla camporum, regiones omnes et cuncta opplevere montium iuga, fides quoque vetustatis recenti documento firmata est. Et primus cum Alavivo suscipitur Fritigernus, quibus et alimenta pro tempore, et subigendos agros tribui statuerat imperator.

[9] Per id tempus nostri limitis reseratis obicibus, atque (ut Aetnaeas favillas armatorum agmina diffundente barbaria), cum difficiles necessitatum articuli correctores rei militaris poscerent aliquos claritudine gestarum rerum notissimos: quasi laevo quodam numine deligente, in unum quaesiti potestatibus praefuere castrensibus homines maculosi: quibus Lupicinus antistabat et Maximus, alter per Thracias comes, dux alter exitiosus, aemulae ambo¹¹ temeritatis.

[10] Quorum insidiatrix aviditas materia malorum omnium fuit. Nam (ut alia omittamus, quae memorati vel certe, sinentibus eisdem, alii perditis rationibus in commeantes peregrinos adhuc innoxios deliquerunt) illud dicetur, quod nec apud sui periculi iudices absolvere ulla poterat venia, triste et inauditum.

[11] Cum traducti barbari victus inopia vexarentur, turpe commercium duces invisissimi cogitarunt, et quantos undique insatiabilitas colligere potuit canes, pro singulis dederunt¹² mancipiis, inter quae et filii¹³ ducti sunt optimatum.

[12] Per hos dies interea etiam Vithericus Greuthungorum rex cum Alatheo et Saphrace, quorum arbitrio regebatur, itemque Farnobio, propinquans Histri marginibus, ut simili susciperetur humanitate, obsecravit imperatorem legatis propere missis.

[13] Quibus (ut communi rei conducere videbatur) repudiatis, et quid capesserent anxiis, Athanarichus paria pertimescens abscessit, memor Valentem dudum cum foederaretur concordia despexisse, affirmantem se religione devinctum, ne calcaret solum aliquando Romanum, hacque causatione, principem firmare pacem in medio flumine coegisse: quam simultatem veritus, ut adhuc durantem, ad Caucalandensem locum altitudine silvarum inaccessum et montium, cum suis omnibus declinavit, Sarmatis inde extrusis.

Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

Res Gestae (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).)

Translations (1)

History Perseus (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).) — 31.4 focus

[1] Therefore, under the lead of Alavivus, they¹ took possession of the banks of the Danube, and sending envoys to Valens, with humble entreaty begged to be received, promising that they would not only lead a peaceful life but would also furnish auxiliaries, if circumstances required.

[2] While this was happening in foreign parts, terrifying rumours spread abroad that the peoples of the north were stirring up new and uncommonly great commotions: that throughout the entire region which extends from the Marcomanni and the Quadi to the Pontus, a savage horde of unknown peoples, driven from their abodes by sudden violence, were roving about the river Hister in scattered bands with their families.

[3] In the very beginning this news was viewed with contempt by our people, because wars in those districts were not ordinarily heard of by those living at a distance until they were ended or at least quieted for a time.

[4] But when the belief in what had taken place gained strength, and was confirmed by the coming of the foreign envoys, who begged with prayers and protestations that an exiled race might be received on our side of the river, the affair caused more joy than fear; and experienced flatterers immoderately praised the good fortune of the prince, which unexpectedly brought him so many young recruits from the ends of the earth, that by the union of his own and foreign forces he would have an invincible army; also that instead of the levy of soldiers which was contributed annually by each province, there would accrue to the treasuries² a vast amount of gold.

[5] In this expectation various officials were sent with vehicles to transport the savage horde, and diligent care was taken that no future destroyer of the Roman state should be left behind, even if he were smitten with a fatal disease. Accordingly, having by the emperor’s permission obtained the privilege of crossing the Danube and settling in parts of Thrace, they were ferried over for some nights and days embarked by companies in boats, on rafts, and in hollowed tree-trunks³ ; and because the river is by far the most dangerous of all and was then swollen by frequent rains, some who, because of the great crowd, struggled against the force of the waves and tried to swim were drowned; and they were a good many.

[6] With such stormy eagerness on the part of insistent men was the ruin of the Roman world brought in. This at any rate is neither obscure nor uncertain, that the ill-omened officials who ferried the barbarian hordes often tried to reckon their number, but gave up their vain attempt; as the most distinguished of poets says:

Who wishes to know this would wish to know

How many grains of sand on Libyan plain

By Zephyrus are swept.⁴

[7] Well then, let the old tales revive of bringing the Medic hordes to Greece; for while they describe the bridging of the Hellespont, the quest of a sea at the foot of Mount Athos by a kind of mechanical severing,⁵ and the numbering of the armies by squadrons at Doriscus,⁶ later times have unanimously regarded all this as fabulous reading.

[8] For after the countless swarms of nations were poured through the provinces, spreading over a great extent of plain and filling all regions and every mountain height, by this new evidence the trustworthiness also of old stories was confirmed. First Fritigern and Alavivus were received, and the emperor gave orders that they should be given food for their present needs and fields to cultivate.

[9] During this time, when the barriers of our⁷ frontier were unlocked and the realm of savagery was spreading far and wide columns of armed⁸ men like glowing ashes from Aetna, when our difficulties and imminent dangers called for military reformers who were most distinguished for the fame of their exploits: then it was, as if at the choice of some adverse deity, that men were gathered together and given command of armies who bore stained reputations. At their head were two rivals in recklessness: one was Lupicinus, commanding general in Thrace, the other Maximus, a pernicious leader.

[10] Their treacherous greed was the source of all our evils. I say nothing of other crimes which these two men, or at least others with their permission, with the worst of motives committed against the foreign new-comers, who were as yet blameless; but one melancholy and unheard-of act shall be mentioned, of which, even if they were their own judges⁹ of their own case, they could not be acquitted by any excuse.

[11] When the barbarians after their crossing were harassed by lack of food, those most hateful generals devised a disgraceful traffic; they exchanged every dog that their insatiability could gather from far and wide for one slave each, and among these were carried off also sons of the chieftains.

[12] During these days also Vithericus,¹⁰ king of the Greuthungi, accompanied by Alatheus and Saphrax, by whose will he was ruled, and also by Farnobius, coming near to the banks of the Danube, hastily sent envoys and besought the emperor that he might be received with like kindness.

[13] When these envoys were rejected, as the interests of the state seemed to demand, and were in doubt what course to take, Athanarichus, fearing a like fate, departed, remembering that he had some time before treated Valens with contempt when they were making a treaty of friendship, declaring that he was prevented by conscientious scruples from ever setting foot on Roman soil; and by this excuse he had forced the emperor to conclude peace in the middle of the river.¹¹ Fearing that the grudge caused by this still endured, Athanaricus withdrew with all his followers to Caucalanda, a place inaccessible because of high mountains and deep forests, from which he first drove out the Sarmatians.

Notes on the current edition

Res Gestae

1. duce Alauiuo, Lind.; uiuo, V.

2. et, added by Lind.; -que after Quadis, Brakman; V omits connective.

3. pubescente iam, EA; p. ueraci, Günther; p. rapide, Pet., deleted by Novák; pubiscenter ad, V.

4. quae, Bent., Pet.; quod, EA; que, V.

5. ducebatur, V; adducebatur, Momm.; augebatur, Her. (cf. xxx. 4, 1).

6. turbentur, A, Bent., from Virgil; truduntur, V.

7. dum, Madvig; ductum, Voss.; dudum, V.

8. Hellespontiacos, Madvig; Hellesponti, W; hellis ponti accupantes, V.

9. pontes, Madvig; occupantes, EA; for V see note 4.

10. mare sub imo Athonis, Voss., Madvig; maris, litus montanum, Gardt.; maris ubi montonis, V.

11. aemulae ambo, tr. by Novák, c.c.; ambo aemulae, V.

12. dederunt, Lind.; dederant, N 2 Giinther; dederat, V.

13. et filii, added by Val., no lac. in V; propinqui after optimatum, Novák in lac. indic. by Eyssen

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 31.4

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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Pars maior Gothorum cognomine Theruingorum finibus suis expulsa, permissu Valentis a Romanis transportatur in Thraciam, obsequium et auxilia pollicita. Greuthungi quoque, pars altera Gothorum, furtim ratibus Histrum transeunt.

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